Improvement in machines for printing addresses on newspapers



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. a

JAMES ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

|MPRovEMENT |N MACHINES FOR PRINTING ADDRESSES oN NEWSPAPERS, No..

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 37,432, dated January 27, 1863.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J AMES ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, late of Buffalo, State of New York, now temporarily residing in Milton, Canada West, have invented a new and Improved Mailing-Machine; and I hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the said invention, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, in which is given a perspective view of the said machine.

The subject of my said invention is a machine for addressing newspapers or other periodicals; and the improvement particularly consists in adapting the machine to operate upon type locked up in a common chase of anysize, as will be hereinafter more fully explained.

A A are two sills secured together by crosspiecesa a at each end, which also raise the sills type high77 when placed on a table or any other at surface.

B represents a sliding bed -piece, which passes between the sills in grooves b b, and is provided with a tympan or shield, G.

D represents an upright post attached at Vthe base of the said sliding bed-piece, having an arm, d, and curved at the upper end, as shown at i.

E represents a lever used as the handle of the machine, which, when being raised above a horizontal position, moves the said sliding bed-piece forward, as hereinafter described.

F represents a pitman passing up through the said arm d, the lever E, and the curved end i of the post D. Around the pitman F, between the arm d and the lever E, is a spiral spring, r, exerting an upward pressure upon the said lever to assist in raising it. At the lower end of the pitman F is a small platen G, directly over an aperature, (marked H) in the tympan or shield C, through which the addresses (set up in type or other characters) are to be printed in succession as they appear.

I represents a small wheel secured to a sleeve, fn, turning upon a stud shaft, N, which projects from the post D.

J is a larger pinion-wheel attached to the sleeve n, and gearing with a rack, M, secured upon the sill A.

K represents a small lever, the front end of which serves as a dog, and grips upon the roughened surface of the wheel I, being fulcrumed near its end to a bell crank, P, fulcrumed to the shaft N.

L represents a bar which connects the lever K to the lever E, which bar, when moved back or forward and secured by means of a screw, f,at the top end, regulates the feed of the platen G.

When the handle of the machine is elevated, the connectingbar L raises the rear end of the lever K, which causes the other end to grip as a dog upon the wheel I, by which means it is turned, and the sliding bed-piece B is moved forward. The spiral spring S, attached at the upper end of the upright post D and the lower end of the bell-crank P, serves to gradually press back the lever K, which prevents motion of the machine from being unequal. A cord attached near each end of the sill A, and passing around a scorepulley upon the sleeve n, may, if preferred, be substituted for the rack M and pinion J.

The operation of the machine is as follows: The names to be printed must be set up in type or other characters and secured in a chase or galley, and placed on a table or other smooth surface, then inked with a hand-roller, after which the machine is placed directly over the type, and as the handle is raised with one hand the sliding bed-piece of the machine moves forward to a name, then with the other hand the paper to be addressed is placed under the platen, and by pressing down with the handle of the machine the impression is made. This operation is repeated till the sliding bed-piece has moved to the end 0f the column of names in type. rlhen by lowering the handle till it is a little below the horizontal position the machine may be easily pulled back to the opposite extremity of the ways, when, by pulling the chase containing the names in type a little nearer to you, or pushing the machine from you till the platen is directly opposite the next column of names, another column of addresses may be printed as before, and so on till the work is completed.

Now, I do not claim exclusively the platen nor the tympan. These have always been used in some form or other in printing. Nei ther do I claim any device by which the successive names are fed to a stationary tympan. Neither do I claim, broadly, a printing-machine desire to securev 2. The combination, With an addressin g1na v Y, V

chine, substantially such as described, of the sills -or Ways A A and crossfpieces au, adapt- VVingythe ma'chineto t'over-a common chase placed upon a common table, and to bc moved in a right line from end to end or from side to side of the said chase.

14A. JCAQLMPBELL.

Witnesses JOHN DnwAmJr., Y THos. L. WHITE. 

